Solutions Architect - AWS
Posted
Summary
Senior Solutions Architect at Leighton (Newcastle upon Tyne) providing architectural leadership across client engagements and digital transformation programmes. Day to day: designing and governing AWS cloud-native solutions (microservices, APIs, event-driven, serverless), leading cloud migrations and platform modernisation, and mentoring engineering teams.
The Role
We’re looking for an experienced Solutions Architect to provide architectural leadership across a portfolio of complex client engagements and digital transformation programmes.
As one of our most senior technical leaders, you'll work across multiple industries, partnering with client stakeholders, delivery teams and engineers to shape cloud-native solutions that solve real business challenges. You'll play a key role in defining technology strategy, governing solution design, and helping organisations modernise legacy estates while accelerating innovation through AWS and modern cloud architectures.
This role combines strategic architectural leadership with hands-on technical guidance. You'll be responsible for creating scalable, secure and resilient solutions, influencing technology decisions at all levels, and ensuring successful delivery across a diverse range of projects. From platform modernisation and cloud migration initiatives to customer-facing digital products, data platforms and AI-enabled solutions, you'll bring both technical depth and commercial awareness to every engagement.
The ideal candidate will have broad expertise across application, data, integration, security and cloud architecture, alongside the ability to build trusted relationships with clients and guide multidisciplinary teams through complex technology transformations.
What You'll Do
- Lead architecture across client engagements spanning application, integration, data, cloud and security domains
- Define target-state architectures and technology roadmaps aligned to client business objectives
- Design and govern AWS-based cloud solutions using modern architectural patterns and best practices
- Establish architecture standards, principles, guardrails and governance frameworks across delivery programmes
- Facilitate architecture review boards and decision-making forums
- Translate business capabilities and operational requirements into scalable technical solutions
- Review solution designs, technical artefacts and implementation approaches to ensure quality and alignment
- Shape cloud-native platforms leveraging microservices, APIs, event-driven architectures and serverless capabilities
- Guide organisations through cloud adoption, application modernisation and platform transformation initiatives
- Enable engineering teams through technical mentoring, architecture coaching and hands-on support
- Support discovery activities, technical assessments, architecture due diligence and pre-sales engagements
- Contribute to solution estimation, technical proposals and client presentations
- Manage architectural risk, technical debt and key design trade-offs throughout the delivery lifecycle
- Ensure solutions meet security, compliance, resilience and operational requirements
- Collaborate with senior client stakeholders to align technology decisions with strategic and commercial objectives
- Support operating model design, platform governance and transition to long-term support and operations
- Extensive experience spanning cloud, application, integration, data and security architecture
- Proven track record designing and delivering enterprise-scale AWS solutions
- Strong knowledge of cloud-native architecture patterns, including microservices, APIs and event-driven systems
- Experience leading architecture across multiple concurrent programmes or client engagements
- Deep understanding of AWS services and best practices across infrastructure, networking, security, data and platform services
- Experience governing architecture within large-scale delivery environments
- Ability to influence senior stakeholders and communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Experience integrating enterprise platforms, SaaS products and third-party services
- Strong understanding of security, resilience, observability and operational excellence principles
- Ability to balance strategic architectural leadership with pragmatic, hands-on decision making
- Familiarity with agile delivery methodologies and product-centric operating models
- Strong consulting, stakeholder management and relationship-building skills
- A collaborative leadership style focused on enabling teams and fostering engineering excellence
- An open and genuine communicator
- Able to take responsibility for your actions
- Always learning and wanting to improve
- Takes responsibility for own development
- Love what you do
- Value and support your team
- Embrace who you are
- Open minded and willing to explore new ideas
We value our team and to attract exceptional people, we offer an excellent package! In 2023, 2024 and 2025 we were recognised as one of the Best Workplaces in Tech by Great Place To Work UK, the global authority on workplace culture.
As a Leighton employee you can look forward to:
- A competitive salary this will be dependent on experience.
- A contributory pension scheme
- Private healthcare
- 25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays and the opportunity to buy or sell holiday
- A flexible approach to working hours
- Continuous personal development, career path and training
- And more....
